Woodside Energy shares retreat as net debt position misses estimates
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More news: Woodside Energy shares were lower after morning trade, as the oil giant broadly met market estimates for the first-half period but missed net debt forecasts.
Woodside shares were down 1.6% to $26.45 at midday AEST, having added 7.5% since the turn of the year.
UBS analyst Tom Allen called it a "clean, in-line result" with strong production at the group's Sangomar field in Senegal a key highlight.
Citi analyst Paul McTaggart noted that core net profit after tax of US$1.247 billion ($1.92 billion) was in line with consensus forecasts, while EBITDA was "modestly ahead" of estimates. The interim dividend of 53 US cents per share was at the top end of the company's 50-80% payout ratio and broadly as expected, he said.
However, McTaggart flagged that Woodside's net debt of US$8.657 billion was above average forecasts of US$7.628 billion, and likely to "overshadow the strong operating performance near term".
Woodside half-year profit falls 32% to $1.3b, dividend slides
The news: Oil giant Woodside Energy posted a 32% drop in first-half net profit after tax to USD1.32 billion ($2 billion), with the difference in part due to a full period of production costs, depreciation and amortisation from the Sangomar oil and gas project in Senegal.
While this was down compared to the USD1.94 billion reported in the previous comparable period, it was above consensus estimates of USD1.22 billion, according to Visible Alpha data.
Underlying net profit after tax of USD1.25 billion was down 24% from the USD1.63 billion reported in the first half of 2024, but was in line with consensus.
The company declared an interim dividend of 53 US cents per share, a 23% decline on last year's half-year payout of 69 US cents and above average forecasts of 52 US cents.
The context: Woodside CEO Meg O'Neill said strong focus on cost management during the period resulted in a reduction in unit production costs. The company also reduced spend on new energy and exploration as it prioritised delivering sanctioned projects, she noted.
O'Neill said Woodside continues to receive "strong interest from high-quality potential partners" as the group explores further sell-downs in its Louisiana liquified natural gas project. Woodside completed the sell-down of a 40% interest in the project to Stonepeak for $5.7 billion earlier this year.
The sources: ASX, UBS research, Citi research
